What comes to mind when you hear the word study?
Do memories of staying up all night for an algebra test in high school haunt you? Has study been something you have engaged in after school?
Study is a spiritual discipline. At this point, you may be thinking, "Study is not for me," or, "I hate studying." I want to to encourage you to lean in this week as we talk about what it looks like for normal, every day Jesus followers to study truth, to take the Scriptures seriously, to "study to show thyself approved."
Every week in our Friday email, we include the section you are currently reading, "Be a Berean." This weekend, take some time to read Actus 17:10-12 where Paul ministers in Berea. Read before this section and after it. In this passage of Scripture, Paul is on his second missionary journey. He is travelling around Asia Minor preaching the gospel to everyone who will listen. Some of these towns respond angrily to Paul's message about Jesus. Just prior to arriving in Berea, Paul was locked up for preaching the Gospel and then released on bail. When he gets to Berea, the Bereans respond differently than most of the other towns where Paul had been preaching. They are curious about Paul's message, but they are still skeptical. These Bereans listen to Paul every day, and then they go home every night and study the Scriptures to discern whether what Paul is saying is true.
This section of the email is called "Be a Berean" because it is my desire that we would be a church full of Bereans. This means that we become a community that takes the Scriptures seriously. We don't just believe what we hear others say; we dig into the Scripture to discover what God says and then lean on the Holy Spirit to help us interpret and apply that truth to our lives today.
I can't wait to gather on Sunday and discover together what it looks like to be a church full of Bereans.
Pastor Nathan
